


Presents

by insight



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Marauders' Era, Marauders' Friendship, Mischief, Moony's Birthday, Pre-slash and pranks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-18
Updated: 2016-06-18
Packaged: 2018-07-15 19:48:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7236076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insight/pseuds/insight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius likes to give presents. Remus is highly suspicious of such behavior.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Presents

Sirius likes the smell of spring. The sweet tang of fresh air blowing in soft, sudden rushes against his face and the fall of shimmerlight through the clouds make him simply happy. Everything is comfortable in this setting, as he lies in a lazy sprawl on the grass with a neglected book shading his face.

He can hear James's arm quietly whistling through the air, expertly catching the Snitch, and Peter sighing with admiration at the display. He cannot hear Remus because this friend is always quiet but Sirius can imagine Moony's brow-wrinkled face as he stares down at the badly-wrapped object that Sirius had placed in his hands about ten minutes ago.

Behind the pages, Sirius smiles deviously with the knowledge that Remus is not entirely happy with receiving anything from his dear old mate, Padfoot, who is quite well-known for giving Remus a pet mouse for his eleventh birthday while considerately forgetting at the time to warn Remus that the mouse had been charmed to roar. Sirius still wickedly treasures the memory of Moony's rather high jump and goggle-eyed startlement.

But this time the present is something good because Moony still aches after the recent Transformation and Sirius inexplicably aches for him too. Sirius hears Remus slowly beginning to unwrap the object and he slides the book off his face a little to watch. A round, unlabelled tub falls into Remus' lap and the boy looks at it narrowly before glancing at Sirius. Remus points to the tub and asks suspiciously, "What is this?"

James snickers and Remus starts to look alarmed. Sirius wants to glare at Prongs but then that would be a dead give-away and where would be the fun in _that_. So he sits up casually, propping himself back on his hands, and replies langourously, "Moony, my mate of so little faith, your rudeness is astounding. Clearly we have been teaching you well for your manners to fall to such a disreputable level."

"The only thing of disrepute, right now, is probably the explosive sitting in my lap," Remus retorted. James looked with interest at the tub, "Padfoot, that isn't the Frying, Frizzling, Fuming Frupowder we ordered from Zonko's, is it, mate?" Sirius shakes his head sadly because he's cooked up some wonderful pranks for that Powder and it still has yet to arrive.

By this time, Remus has placed the container very gingerly on the grass and is fixing Sirius with a hard look. It discomfits Sirius slightly because Remus is habitually pleasant and on the rare occasion that Remus gets like this Sirius somehow always feels guilty. And because Sirius feels guilty, he does not feel particularly magnanimous anymore. "It's a gift, Moony. Something to feel joy over, not something to suspect," he says, surliness in his tone. Remus' face softens but his mouth twists wryly, "The roaring mouse for my eleventh, Sirius, the exploding chocolate cake for my twelfth, the thirteen Twiddling Tweezers that somehow found their way into my bed on my thirteenth. These are not the acts of a benevolent birthday gift-giver."

Sirius feels his guilt multiply at these words. "Really not the most decent things to do to a mate on his birthday," James remarks with mild reprove and entire hypocriscy as Sirius distinctly remembers him as being co-conspirator in those birthday pranks. By this time, though, Remus has screwed up the courage to unscrew the container. Sirius hears him sigh a breath of relief before he feels mild amusement at the growing grimace on Remus' face after Moony has looked inside the container. Peter who has crept up behind Remus, peers over his shoulder before yelling and shoving back from the area, throwing an accusing look in Sirius' direction, "You've given him distilled Bubotuber Pus!"

James stares before collapsing back and howling with laughter. Sirius sighs sharply and says "It's not bloody Pus." Remus turns a little green at these words before saying thinly, "Really, Sirius...'bloody pus'," and even Sirius winces at the mental image. However, James manages to choke out "'S'not Pus" thereby making the whole thing worse for the other Marauders. James, however, says, "Bloody pus and snotty pus. _Brilliant_ images. Better remember that one for Snivellus, Pads." Sirius recovers himself and nods happily, mentally remembering to add in the Frupowder to the whole Snivellus concoction before looking back at Moony. Remus has a narrow-eyed look on his face but Sirius can also see that he is slightly hurt. Sirius thinks that it is high time that he explains.

"It's a salve, Moony. For Full Moons like. Pomfrey takes care of you alright, but you're not here over the summers and we're not going to be at Hogwarts for the rest of our lives. Helps soothe bruises, makes the blood clot more quickly, reduces chances of scarring- not that scars aren't manly." Sirius says all this in a rather stumbling and gruff tone as he looks at Remus.

Remus considers him for a moment before sticking a finger into the green gel and daubing it onto a bruise on Peter's hand. Peter yelps and pulls his hand back but a few seconds later he holds it up and they all stare at the bruise-free skin. James whistles before commenting casually, "Good stuff, Black. Heard it's pretty dear to get ahold of, too. Markins' brand, innit? Top-of-the-line Healing salve, that is, Moony."

Sirius tries not to look too smug when Remus turns back to look at him, brown eyes warm. James, however, covers his eyes with a lazily flung arm and asks wickedly, "Going to snog, mates? Wormtail and I'll give you some privacy". Still mildly transfixed by his hand, Peter snickers appreciatively at James' juvenile wit, not realizing that a prone, currently sightless Prongs is a very vulnerable creature when faced with a deeply insulted Mr. Moony and Mr. Padfoot.

After James has been properly dunked in the lake and Peter liberally sprayed, Remus turns to Sirius, "Pads, this makes up for all the birthday pranks before." Sirius grins a bit guiltily as he remembers the fourteen Dungbombs he has kindly placed in Moony's trunk only just this morning. What a surprise that will be for his dear Moony, he thinks unrepentantly as he ruffles his mate's hair. Remus wraps an arm around his waist and whispers in his ear, "Oh, and Padfoot? Those fourteen Dungbombs have been properly relocated back to their owner."

Later, when he is sourly cleaning out his newly-besmirched trunk, Sirius thinks that it is very unkind to have his gifts returned back to him, especially when they are unexploded Dungbombs.


End file.
